Takashi Natsume
Takashi Natsume (夏目 貴志) is the main protagonist of the series along with is self-proclaimed body guard Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 01 , Madara . Like his grandmother, Reiko Natsume, he has the ability to see spirits Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 01. He is voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya. Appearance Takashi has dusty-blonde hair (silver colored in the manga), golden-brown eyes with slitted irises, and usually wears a soft smile (noted by several to occasionally be fake). He is currently around 167 cm in height. He is often mistaken as his grandmother, Reiko, by youkai which makes him a target of many of them. Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 01Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 04Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 05Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 12Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 14 He is considered to be beautiful by many and has multiple fangirls in his school Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 01. He, however, seems to be oblivious to his appearance and his admirers, much to Kitamoto and Nishimura's disbelief. It was later revealed in the Official Fanbook that Takashi has a complex about being weak and having a girly face, so he consciously makes an effort to be masculine and use tough language. Personality Takashi, unlike his grandmother, Reiko Natsume, is kind towards both humans and youkai, to the point that he can be easily fooled Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 06, as mentioned by Tsubame. Prior to the beginning of the series, he was originally reserved and soft-spoken because of his troubled past, he used to greatly dislike having the ability to see youkai because of the trouble it's given him and had trouble interacting with other humans. Thanks to the kindness of the Fujiwara's, Kitamoto Atsushi, Nishimura Satoru, and his friendship with Madara, he slowly opens up to both humans and youkai. He does, however, occasionally suffer a slight trauma about his past, often in a dream or when he sees humans (usually exorcists) acting despicable. One of his dreams as a child was to grow up and live independently, away from everyone else.Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 30 Takashi does not reveal his ability of seeing youkai to the Fujiwara couple, or his friends, Kitamoto and Nishimura, because he is worried that they would stop acting normal around him and worry about him.Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 133 He also tries to hide what he sees from Tanuma Kaname because he is worried that he may drag Tanuma into his problems.Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 36Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 37Natsume Yuujinchou Shi Anime: Episode 45Natsume Yuujinchou Shi Anime: Episode 46 The author describes him as "a person who is trying to be kind". Though he has seen youkai all his life, he has little tolerance for their antics. When angered he often lashes out in a punch or a kick of resistance, which has enough spiritual energy in it to knock even the highest level of youkai out in a second.Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 24 However, his fighting abilities only extend to youkai; his punches, as noted by Madara, do not work on humans.Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 32 Takashi is very agile and good at climbing trees because he was always running away from youkai. However, he has a short stamina (constantly mentioned by Nishimura) and is very susceptible to heat. History Takashi was cursed by the ability to see youkai ever since he was very little, thus making him look and act strange. He would turn pale at the sight of them, making him a target of bullies and youkai. He didn't have many friends due to his ability. His parents died because of a car accident and he was moved from relative to relative. The kind-hearted Fujiwara couple then finally took him in and treated him as part of their family. Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 38 Relationships Fujiwara Couple Since the Fujiwara's' they took him in their home with kindness, Takashi makes sure that they don't know about his abilities to speak with youkai since he wishes not to trouble them in any way. Although he is not their own child, they treat Takashi as if he was their own. Takashi hopes to pay them back for their kindness one day, yet he wonders if he would be able to repay their kindness. Nyanko-sensei/Madara Nyanko-sensei, though he is supposed to be Takashi's "guard", often blatantly ignoresNatsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 03 when he is in danger and instead drinks sake or chases around with insectsZoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 14 or even sleeping.Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 10 He even tries to eat Takashi several times during the beginning of the series. Madara claims that he will only stick with Takashi until he dies so that he would get the Book of Friends. However, there are occasional times when he would forget that promise, such as the time where he said it was a pity that Takashi had not drank any mermaid's blood after meeting one, and Natsume laughs and says "But then you'd never get the Book of Friends, would you?" which causes Nyanko-sensei to lapse into silence.Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 24 He also becomes furious when others, especially Matoba, tries to harm Takashi. Though they argue a lot, their relationship is similar to that of a grouchy but over-protective uncle and an exasperated but loving nephew. Tanuma Kaname He is one of Takashi's schoolmates and friends. Tanuma also has the ability to see youkai, but on a much weaker level, only being able to sense their presence or see their shadows.Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 03 He can also hear them on very few occasions. Takashi is very protective of Tanuma because he knows that, likewise, Tanuma is protective of Takashi. Takashi knows that Tanuma will help him no matter what the cost, and that scares him because he does not want Tanuma to recklessly protect him and get hurt. Takashi is reluctant to share his vivid experiences with youkai as well, because he knows that Tanuma cannot relate and will feel guilty about not relating. In the episode The Gap Between Humans and Youkai, Tanuma has a breakdown and confesses that he's scared of being useless and losing Takashi's friendship in consequence. He knows that Takashi is keeping secrets out of kindness, but he doesn't want a wall between them because of it. Takashi promises to tell him more from then on, strengthening their friendship. Taki Tooru Another of Takashi's friends and classmates who know his secret. Taki is the descendent of an onmyojiZoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 19 and has the ability to inscribe magic circles to see youkai. Other than that, she is an ordinary, energetic girl who loves cute things (though her range of 'cute' extends to Madara as well). Like Tanuma, she tries to help Takashi any way she can, but she is often prevented because Takashi does not want her to be involved with his problems. Takashi's friend, Nishimura, has a crush on Taki, though most of her attention is devoted to Takashi. Kitamoto Atsushi and Nishimura Satoru Takashi's two best friends who were the first to call out to him. They are very close to the point where Takashi sometimes tells them about his troubled childhood or has meaningless squabbles with them, and they are both understanding and tolerant of his occasionally strange behavior (which usually includes youkai). When Takashi hurts himself by accident (again, usually involving youkai), they lecture him sternly and claim that he can tell them anything. Takashi does not mention his ability to see youkai because, like with the Fujiwara couple, he is scared that they will no longer treat him normally. Natori Shuuichi Natori originally took interest in Takashi's strong power (which he hints is even stronger than his own) and wanted Takashi to be his apprentice in exorcism.Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 09 Takashi refused because the way they see youkai is different; Natori sees youkai as both tools and dangerous, while Takashi treats them with kindness. However, their relationship gradually becomes very brotherly, to the point where Natori asks Takashi to go to a hot spring with him on a vacation. Natori also offers to give Takashi a place to stay if he "ever gets tired of telling lies", meaning lying to the Fujiwara couple about his ability. Natori calls Takashi his one friend who is able to see the same scenery. Matoba Seiji One of Takashi's more obvious enemies. Matoba is a cold-hearted exorcist who, like Natori, wants Takashi to become an exorcist, as well as to join the Matoba clan. Takashi initially dislikes him greatly because Matoba thinks nothing of hurting and/or enslaving youkai to do his bidding. He also seems to show no empathy towards other humans. After learning of Matoba's loneliness and sacrificial position, he softens up slightly towards him, but he still refuses to join the Matoba clan. Sasada Jun While the two are not particularly close, Sasada suspects Takashi of being able to see youkai because she herself met one and wanted to meet it again.Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 04 Sasada had observed Takashi and noted his quirky behavior, thus drawing out the conclusion that Takashi could see things no one else could see. She is similar to Takashi as to having no close relatives: her mother died and her father remarried, then her father died and her stepmother also remarried. In the manga, Sasada moves away and is never seen again. In the anime, she stays as one of Takashi's class representatives and it is often implied that she has a crush on him. Powers & Abilities Returning Names Takashi returns the name inscribed in the Book of Friends by first picturing the youkai in his mind. The book flips to the page on which the name is written and Takashi takes the page and places it in his mouth and exhales. Takashi is only able to do this because he is Reiko's blood relative. The cost of releasing the name, however, is that Takashi will drain a lot of energy in the process. Dream/Memory Reader If a youkai becomes emotionally unstable, in the same space as a sleeping Takashi its dreams may flow into Takashi's. On the other hand, most of the youkai let Takashi see their memories so that he can understand their situation better. Takashi can also see their memories when he releases a youkai's name. When Takashi is completely frustrated over a problem when he is in class, he would draw it in his notebook about whatever is bothering him at the time. One example of this was when he was being chased by a shadow he called "Mary," he started drawing it in his notebook, making his friends wonder if he was in love with a foreigner. Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 12 Spiritual Power/Fighting Ability Due to being a direct grandson of Reiko, he has strong spiritual power, as is shown when he punches Madara and other youkai. His incredibly strong ability in spiritual magic and strength causes him to smell "yummy" to man-eating youkai, as Madara puts it. He does not use this power for any other use than returning names, even though he hits and hurts youkai with some of his power. In episode 38, "A place to go home to", Natsume has had minor experience with sealing spells before as seen in his younger years. In later episodes he develops the ability to sense the presence of nearby youkai when he is given enough time to focus. Anime and Manga Differences In the manga, Natsume has silver hair and green eyes. In the anime however, his eyes were changed to golden brown. In the anime he is less irritable than in the manga; he is more relaxed. Trivia *He seems to be the only human (besides Reiko), to be able to read the names in Book of Friends. (However, both Natori and Matoba have not tried to read and the guide book states that anyone with spiritual power could read it.) *He seemingly can sew fine, where he sewn clothes for the baby chick Tatsumi.Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 17 However, at later story, during the school festival where Natsume tasked as the cashier for the class bazaar, Natsume seemingly having some difficulties sewing up the pink ribbon onto his apron.Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 35 *He has a complex of being weak and having a feminine face, so he consciously tries to act masculine and use tough language. *Although he always sleeps in class and frequent absences, he is quite popular with the girls at school. Natsume Yuujinchou San Anime: Episode 35Natsume Yuujinchou Shi Anime: Episode 44 *He is bad with children (due to his own troubled childhood).Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou Anime: Episode 25 Reference }} Category:Characters Category:Human Category:Male